Walgreen Joins MDLive To Access Doctors Via Telemedicine

Walgreens (WAG), the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain, announced a deal with telemedicine company, MDLive, that will bring the drugstore giant’s customers around-the-clock access to physicians.

It’s the latest push by
Walgreen to provide its customers with digital health technology while the partnership for MDLive further establishes the company and the telehealth industry as no passing fad.

“We are going to be getting into the telemedicine space where you consult a board certified physician from your computer, your tablet or your phone,” Walgreens chief medical officer, Dr. Harry Leider, said in an interview at the 2014 Forbes Healthcare Summit(the full interview is in the video below). “We are extending this idea of convenience into the digital space.”

Initially, the service will be available to Walgreen customers in California and Michigan, with “plans to rollout to additional states and markets over time,” MDLive and Walgreens said in a joint statement.

It’s another sign established health care players like Walgreen and its rivals CVS Health (CVS),
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) are taking advantage of insurance payment that is opening up to paying for remote access to providers of medical care. MDLive’s “virtual visit” or consultation with a doctor costs $49 though that could be less depending on the customer’s health insurance coverage. Supporters also see opportunities as the Affordable Care Act and trends in insurance payment push more care out of more expensive hospital and doctor office settings and into patient’s homes or where ever they are.

Through various digital technology, health care providers are putting more responsibility for health care into their customers hands in effort to reduce costs by avoiding more expensive office visits while improving quality through a more customer-friendly experience.

Walgreens last year launched a “pharmacy chat” feature that gives customers access to the company’s pharmacists and related staff 24 hours a day. The deal with MDLive, founded in 2009 and now has a national reach, is an extension of Walgreens’ telehealth platform.

“For the first time, a drugstore’s customers and its mobile app users can share the convenience of accessing a board-certified doctor who can also e-prescribe medication when appropriate, via a secure, online video platform,” MDLIVE president and chief executive officer Randy Parker said.

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I've written about health care for three decades, starting from my native Iowa where I covered the presidential campaign bus rides of Bill and Hillary Clinton through the Hawkeye state talking health reform and the economy. I have covered the rise, fall and rise again of he...